The Baptism of Christ; Andrea VERROCCHIO and Leonardo da VINCI; 1473-78; tempera and oil on wood; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
The Baptism of Jesus
To understand
What you can see in this picture……
John the Baptist baptizes Jesus in the Jordan. On the right, John the Baptist is clothed like a shepherd; he leans on his stick and pours water on Jesus’ head. The latter wears a simple loin-cloth; he is standing on the bank of the river, with his feet in the water, and bowing down as a sign of humility.
Behind them, two angels carry some linen, a book… Be careful to avoid an easy misinterpretation. Some angels are often on the bank with linen in their hands; it is as if they were waiting for the end of the bath! In fact this is the oriental tradition of veiling one’s hands as a sign of respect.
At the top centre, the heaven opens to reveal a dove; this is the dove of the Holy Ghost.
John the Baptist is an adult, an ascetic living in the desert. He normally wears a loin-cloth in camel’s hairs but he is rather represented as a shepherd wearing a sheep’s or a goat’s skin that leaves a part of his body naked.
...and in other pictures
Jesus is baptized by John but the representation has evolved according to two models due to the religious practice of Christian baptisms.
Jesus is at first baptized by immersion; that is to say he is plunged whole into the Jordan River or into a cistern; which corresponds to the practice of antique Christianity and to the meaning of the Greek verb “baptizein”, which means “to plunge”. But the practice fell into disuse and artists had to introduce another representation.
Jesus is baptized by aspersion; he is on the bank of the Jordan River and John the Baptist pours water only on his head. In the baptism by immersion, John imposes his hands whereas with the aspersion he pours some water from a jug or with his fingers.
This scene is an “epiphany” or manifestation of God. He is present under the form of a dove representing the Holy Ghost but God the Father can also appear at the top of the scene. The Father, the dove of the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ are then in the same divine vertical line uniting the heaven and the earth. John the Baptist then sees his role diminish.
With the Renaissance, the baptism of Christ tended to become a bath scene after the antique. One can sometimes find a personification of the river in the foreground. The Counter-Reformation called for a more religious interpretation either by emphasizing the humility of the kneeling Christ, or by stressing his majesty when he appears as Son of God with some great importance given to light and the dove of the Holy Ghost.
Not be confused with
|
Naaman washing in the Jordan River in order to be healed of Leprosy; Matthias SCHEITS;1712; copperplate from”Historiae celebriores Veteris Testamenti Iconibus Representatae”.
|
Naaman restored to health in the Jordan.The second book of Kings, chapter5, tells the story of Naaman, a Syrian general. He is a leprous but he is cured by the prophet Elijah who asks him to dive into the water of the Jordan.
|
|
Saint Philip baptizing the Eunuch of the Queen of Ethiopia; Théodore CHASSÉRIAU; 1854; oil, gouache and black chalk on paper glued to canvas; private collection.
|
In the Acts of the Apostles, one can find several scenes of Christian baptismspracticed by the apostles. Philip baptizes an Ethiopian eunuch |
The biblical narrative
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapters 26 and 27
And those that had laid hold of Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled…
They find it difficult to find witnesses but two men tell that he has said he is going to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.
The high priest… said to him: "I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God." - Jesus said to him: "it is as you said: nevertheless I say to you, Hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying: "He has spoken blasphemy; what further need do we have of witnesses? look, now you have heard his blasphemy.
What do you think ?" They answered and said: "He is deserving death." … And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor…
And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying : "Are you the King of the Jews?" And Jesus said to him : "It is as you say." Then he keeps silent while Pilate’s wife asks her husband : "Have nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."
At each feast, the governor releases a prisoner. He asks the crowd to choose and the crowd call for Barabbas.
Pilate said to them: "What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said to him: "Let him be crucified !" And the governor said: "Why, what evil has he done? " But they cried out the more, saying: "Let him be crucified !" When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying: "I am innocent of the blood of this just person: you see to it !" (Matthew 26:57 to 27:24)
Comment
The trial is twofold, for Jesus is a religious agitator” who is condemned to death for blasphemy but the religious authorities may not execute the sentence, for the full power of life and death belongs to the Romans, hence the second political trial which condemns Jesus for “political agitation”.
See similar pictures
|
Jesus is baptized by immersion; that is to say he is plunged whole into the Jordan or into a bath. This corresponds to the practice of ancient Christianity and to the meaning of the Greek verb “baptizein” which means “to plunge”. |
The Baptism of Christ by St John the Baptist; Michiel van der BORCH; 1332; illuminated vellum; manuscript MMW 10 B 21; Museum Meermanno Westreenianum, Koninklijke Bibliotheek; The Hague.
|
The Baptism of Christ; GIOTTO di Bondone; 1305; fresco; Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy. |
|
Jesus is baptized by aspersion; he is standing on the bank of the Jordan and John pours water only on his head. Whereas in the immersion he is naked but hidden by the water, with the aspersion he has to be clothed. |
The Baptism of Christ; Piero della FRANCESCA; 1450; egg tempera on poplar; central part of a polyptych from the abbey of Borgosansepulcro; National Gallery, London.
|
The Baptism of Christ; Andrea SANSOVINO; 1502-05; marble; Baptistery, Florence.
|
|
This scene is an “epiphany” or manifestation of God. He is present under the form of a dove representing the Holy Ghost but God the Father can also appear at the top of the scene. The Father, the dove of the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ are then in the same divine vertical line uniting the heaven and the earth. John the Baptist then sees his role diminish.
|
The Baptism of Christ; Giovanni BELLINI; 1500-02; oil on canvas; Santa Corona, Vicenza, Italy.
|
The Baptism of Christ; El GRECO; 1596-1600; oil on canvas; Museo del Prado, Madrid.
|
|
Two original compositions: Poussin shifts the scene but Jesus is followed by other disciples. Cornelis moves the baptism into the background to show in the foreground the new mankind saved from sin, the new Adam and the new Eve of paradise regained.
|
The Baptism of Christ; Nicolas POUSSIN; 1650; oil on canvas; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. Olga's Gallery - Online Art Museum
|
The Baptism of Christ; Cornelius CORNELIS van HAARLEM; 1588; oil on canvas; Musée du Louvre, Paris.
|
|
A return to tradition in Burne-Jones. |
The Baptism of Christ; Edward BURNE-JONES and William MORRIS; right part of stained glass window, Trinity Church, Saugerties, New York
|
Further developments
The Christian Baptismwas as an attested rite of entry into the community from the early years of the Church and this rite has been kept by all Christian churches whatever their differences in other respects. It has the meaning of a new birth with new spiritual parents, the godfather and the godmother. A catholic baptism by aspersion and a baptism by immersion in the Baptist Church |
|
|
In France until the 18th century, baptism constituted the act of admission into the Church and into social life. The name given and inscribed on the register kept by the vicar of the parish attested the existence of an individual. As early as 1792, the Republic created the État-Civil (Registry Office) where the registration is carried out by the mayor in place of the vicar. Baptism became merely a religious act. But as this inscription was devoid of any solemnity, a certain number of Republicans suggested the creation of a "Republican” baptism to replace the Christian baptism. This rite still exists. (Here on June 2007 at Grenoble)
|
|
Baptism has become the name of any rite of entry or initiation.One speaks of the “baptism of fire”. Streets and also ships are baptized.
|
